1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for disposing of various wastes such as scrapped cars, car part, household electrical appliances, large household furniture, containers and machines, and an apparatus therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For instance, a waste tire is being recycled by being decomposed into several parts, e.g. rubber component and wire embedded in the rubber component. In order to recycle the rubber component of the waste tire, the waste tire is first cut into some pieces in a preliminary process, and then, broken into small chips by using a shredding device.
In a conventional method of disposing of waste tires by use of a shredding device as shown in FIGS. 30A and 30B, a piece T1 of a waste tire made of rubber and wire W such as a belt wire embedded in the tire piece T1 is torn off into chips T1a and T1b with cutter blades C1 and C2. As the rubber component of the waste tire is torn off, the wire W is simultaneously cut into wire fragments left in the chips T1a and T1b. To automatically remove the wire fragments from the tire chips T1a and T1b after shredding the waste tire with the shredding device, the tire chips are repeatedly subjected to pulverization until they turn into particles on the order of several millimeters. As a result, the wire fragments are finally extracted from the pulverized particles resultantly obtained, consequently to separate the waste tire pieces into rubber components and wires.
Thus, the waste tire is generally shredded into small fragments because the wire pieces W possibly left in the rubber components entail the risk of deteriorating the quality of a recycled matter such as raw rubber. It goes without saying that the recycled matter free from wires or other foreign substances is desirable from the standpoint of actual application.
However, the conventional method of disposing of waste tires as noted above has suffered a disadvantage such that the number of repetitions of shredding waste tire chips is inevitably increased until the waste tire is completely torn off into destined small pieces. As a result, the work of disposing of the waste tire requires much time and labor, and the shredding device suffers from early consumption of the cutter blades and involves extra cost for maintenance. Besides, the shredded tire chips finally obtained are considerably small and therefore, restricted in use to lower the usage value thereof.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus capable of swiftly disposing of a waste matter.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus capable of disposing of a waste matter at a low cost.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for efficiently shredding a waste matter into pieces and spreading the use and recycling of the shredded pieces.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for facilitating separation between different materials of a waste matter, e.g. separation of metal from rubber.
To attain the objects described above according to the present invention, there is provided a method for disposing of a waste matter, which comprises placing the waste matter such as a waste tire in a space between shredding blades of first and second shredding members, and relatively moving the first and second shredding members in opposite directions so that the waste matter is subjected to shearing force exerted in opposite directions and torn off into pieces by the shredding blades relatively moving in opposite directions. In a shredding process, the waste matter placed in the space between the shredding blades is firmly caught by grooves formed in the opposed blade surfaces of the shredding blades.
Any form of the waste matter to be disposed of may be placed in the aforesaid space in the shredding process. That is, the whole or part of raw waste matter to be shredded or shredded piece or pieces of the waste matter may be placed therein. The form of the waste matter to be dealt with includes a part of the shredded piece or pieces and a part connected to an incompletely shredded waste matter. Since the shredding blades are cooperatively worked to shred the waste matter into pieces while seizing the waste matter therebetween, pulverization can be performed efficiently, and even foreign substance such as metal wires embedded in a waste tire can easily be removed from the shredded pieces of the waste matter.
An apparatus for disposing of waste matter according to the present invention comprises a shredding section including first and second shredding members which relatively move in opposite directions. The shredding blades of the first and second shredding members are cooperatively worked to shred the waste matter to be disposed of. Between the shredding blades of the first and second shredding members, there is formed a space for letting the waste matter thereinto and dealing with the waste matter therewithin. Each shredding blade has a groove in its blade surface, which is opposite to that of the counterpart shredding blade, so as to bite the waste matter to be torn in the space defined between the blade surfaces.
The first and second shredding members may be relatively rotatable in their face-to-face directions. One of the first and second shredding members is stationary, and the other shredding member is movable and driven by a drive means so as to move along the opposed blade surface of the aforesaid one. Otherwise, the movable shredding member may be rotated by the drive means along the opposed blade surface of the stationary shredding member.
The waste matter, which is placed in the space between the blade surfaces of the shredding members and caught by the grooves formed in the opposed blade surfaces of the shredding members, is subjected to the shearing action brought about by moving the shredding blades of the shredding members in opposite directions. Consequently, the method of the present invention makes it possible to efficiently shred, for instance, a waste tire constituted by steel wire and rubber components into small pieces, and then, easily separate only the steel wire parts embedded in the shredded pieces from rubber components. Thus, the waste matter such as the scrap waste tire can be easily disposed of with high efficiency.
Since the waste matter placed in the space between the shredding blades is efficiently broken up with the cooperation of the grooves formed in the shredding blades to easily remove even foreign substance such as metal wires embedded in a waste tire from the shredded pieces of the waste tire, the labor required to tear off the waste matter can be abridged and the efficiency and rationality of fulfilling disposal of waste matter can be enhanced.
Other and further objects of this invention will become obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiments about to be described or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.